The Chamber of Gryffindor
by Valarauko
Summary: Godric Gryffindor discovered Salazar Slytherin's secret. Now, Harry Potter must find Gryffindor's chamber to save the school.
1. Betrayal

**The Chamber of Gryffindor**

Part 1 

It was a beautiful summer day in June. Godric sighed as he stood on the steps to the entrance hall, watching the students depart for their summer holiday. He would miss them, of course, but he and his friends still had plenty of work to do before Hogwarts was truly finished. When the last student had left, he turned and went inside. 

Rowena was waiting for him in the Great Hall. "Are they all gone now?" she inquired.

"Yes," Godric told her. "What should we start on first? Have you made any progress with the disappearing classroom?"

"No, and I still haven't convinced the staircases to stay in one place. They just ignore me and keep changing positions. I need to find Salazar to help me with that; he's the only one of us that the staircases will listen to. But we're not starting until tomorrow- tonight we're having a celebration! It's been five years since we opened Hogwarts, and Helga and I wanted to do something special. She's in the kitchens, baking a cake, and I'm going to help her with the punch as soon as I tell Salazar."

"Tell me what?" a voice spoke up behind Rowena.

"Salazar!" Rowena whirled around to face him. "Don't sneak up on me like that! You frightened me! And Godric, stop laughing, what is so funny?"

Between laughs, Godric gasped, "I'm sorry, Rowena. I saw him sneaking up behind you. I should have told you he was there, but I didn't want to interrupt you. How do you walk so quietly, Salazar?"

Salazar smiled. "Call it a talent. I can't go around giving away all my secrets, can I? Now where is this party going to be?"

"In my office. And Salazar, I need to talk to you about the staircases…"

Godric watched as Rowena and Salazar walked away. He turned and went back outside. Godric spent the rest of the afternoon tending the plants in the greenhouse. They had made plans to build a second greenhouse for the more interesting plants they hoped to acquire, but there was so much to do first. As the sun began to set, Helga came looking for him.

"Where have you been, Godric?" she asked. "Rowena says everything's ready for us. Have you seen Salazar?"

"No, but I'm sure he'll remember to come. Let's get going, Rowena's office is halfway up the main tower."

Helga sighed as they left the greenhouse. "It would be nice to have all our offices together. But Rowena likes that tower, and for some reason Salazar chose to put his all the way down in the basement."

Salazar and Rowena were waiting when Godric and Helga arrived. Helga and Rowena immediately began conversing about the previous term. Godric smiled at Salazar.

"How are the staircases coming?"

Salazar shook his head. "Very slowly. Each time I convince one staircase to stay still, two more decide to change positions. I spent nearly an hour trapped on the third floor when none of the stairs felt like connecting it to the second."

Godric started to laugh. Salazar frowned for a moment, then said, "I don't see why that's funny. If they do that while we have students trying to get to their classes, we may have to resort to Muggle methods of nailing them in place."

"Sorry, Salazar," Godric replied. Recently, Salazar had begun to get touchy whenever he talked about the school. If anything was less than perfect, Salazar worked fanatically at it until it was right. At that moment, Helga announced she was ready to serve her cake. "But first," she said, "I'd like each of us to consider our past at Hogwarts, and what we are most thankful about. I'd like to propose a toast to our efforts in the progression of wizardry. May others follow in keeping the magical world alive!"

Rowena spoke next. "To the students, who are the future of Hogwarts."

Godric added, "To our friendship. Without it, Hogwarts would still be a dream to come."

Salazar finished with, "To our success in the future, whatever we try to do next." They clinked their punch glasses and watched Helga slice the cake.

Several hours later, they called out goodnights as each left for their offices where they slept. Rowena had offered to do the cleaning herself, so Godric walked down the stairs with Helga. When they reached her office, Godric continued down the hall toward his own room.

A movement in the shadows nearby caught his eye. Godric was startled to recognize Salazar, sneaking silently toward the passages at the end of the hall. Wondering where he was going, Godric began to follow him.

Salazar was still on the first floor when he stopped. In the moonlight from a window, Godric could see Salazar enter a room that they were planning on turning into another bathroom. Salazar had in fact installed several sinks the day before. From his hiding place in the hall, Godric could hear a strange hissing noise. Curious, he walked in.

"Salazar, what-" Godric stopped short in amazement. Salazar had disappeared, and where one of the sinks had been was a great, gaping hole.

Afraid that Salazar would find him, Godric ducked back into a nearby classroom to think. It was obvious that Salazar hadn't wanted the others to find out about the passage behind the sink. But what had been that hissing sound Godric heard right before he entered?

Salazar's a parseltongue, Godric remembered. It must have been some sort of password.

Godric waited in the classroom until he saw Salazar pass on his way back to his office. As soon as he had gone, Godric slipped back into the bathroom and approached the row of sinks. He imitated the noise Salazar had made, and watched in amazement as the middle sink started to transform.

What did I just say? Godric wondered. The hole in the wall had grown large enough to admit him, so Godric climbed into what was apparently a large pipe, and began to slide downwards. At the bottom, he looked around in disgust.

Wherever he was, it was too wet and dark to be comfortable. Godric lit his wand and began to explore the room. There seemed to be nothing of interest, and he turned to climb back out. Just in front of the pipe, though, he stepped on something that cracked faintly. Godric crouched down and brought his wand light lower to see what it was.

"Just a piece of a bone," he said to himself. "It looks about the right size for a frog. I'm not surprised there's frogs living down here, with how wet it is and all. And what made that noise was just an eggshell. The frogs probably have eggs everywhere in here."

Something was still bothering him, though.  Suddenly, he realized what was wrong. _Frog eggs have no shells! _He had used frog eggs before in potions; he knew what they looked like. And they looked nothing like the shell he was standing on.

A frog skeleton, he thought, next to an egg that was definitely not its own. What was it? Maybe a chicken egg? Godric was beginning to get a really bad feeling about this. A chicken egg, and a frog… or was it a toad? What came from chicken eggs and toads?

The answer shocked Godric. A basilisk! Salazar was raising, had raised, a basilisk, a snake that hatched from a chicken egg taken care of by a toad. And what else could a basilisk be used for than to kill? Now Godric knew why Salazar had stopped fighting about allowing muggle-born students into the school. He didn't care anymore! As soon as they came, he could kill them, and no one would find out who had done it!

Godric had never felt so betrayed in his life. Despite their differences, he had always thought of Salazar as his best friend. He loved Salazar like a brother. But how could he face Salazar, knowing what sort of evil plans were in his head?

Godric snuck back to his office and locked the door. Just to be sure, he charmed the door with his special spell that neutralized the Alohomora charm. Satisfied that no one could disturb him, he sat down in a chair to think.

If Salazar had already hatched the monster, they wouldn't be able to let any students return to Hogwarts. This chamber Salazar had made could ruin all their plans and dreams to make Hogwarts a success.

But only Salazar could open the chamber. So if Godric could keep an eye on him, keep him away from the bathroom while they had students in the castle…

Godric woke up to find he had spent the entire night slumped in his office chair, and the light streaming in through the window showed it was already past breakfast time. Godric changed into some old work robes and hurried to find the others.

"You're late," Rowena observed as he strode up. "Where have you been?"

"Sorry, I overslept. What are we working on today?"

"You're working with Rowena and Salazar on the north tower," Helga told him. "I'm going to hang the new portraits in the entrance hall. See you later!"

Rowena shook her head as Helga left. "How can she be so cheerful, this early in the morning? Well, let's go. Salazar's waiting up at the tower."

For the rest of the morning, Godric worried about Salazar's chamber as he worked. I could set a tracking charm on him, he thought, but he's an experienced wizard. He would notice what I had done. And what if he's got other chambers that I don't know about?

"Watch it!" Rowena yelped suddenly. "You just dropped a rock on my toe!"

"I'm sorry, Rowena," Godric mumbled. He tried lifting it again. "Wingardium Leviosa!"

Rowena dropped her stone into place and ended her spell. "Honestly, Godric, what have the house-elves been feeding you? I've never seen you so spaced out that you couldn't control your spells! Is something wrong?"

"No, no, I'm fine. I was just thinking about something," Godric said hurriedly. Rowena didn't seem satisfied with his explanation, but she returned to her work. Godric glanced over at Salazar to see if he had heard. Salazar was still levitating the heavy stones onto the wall base. He didn't seem to be listening, but with Salazar, you never knew.

Dinner that evening was stressed. Godric didn't trust himself to speak to Salazar, who didn't seem to be feeling conversational. Rowena was silent as she wondered at their strange behavior, and Helga tried vainly to start a conversation.

"So, um, how did the tower go today, you three?" she asked.

Rowena replied with a short "Fine," and continued staring at Godric and Salazar.

Helga tried again. "Godric, where were you last night? I wanted to ask you something after the party, but you weren't in your office."

Rowena asked curiously, "You weren't? Why not?"

Salazar only glanced at Godric, glowering as if he already knew where Godric had been.

Godric suddenly felt angry. "You want to know where I was? I was following _him_!" he declared, pointing at Salazar.

Salazar jumped up. "What business did you have, sneaking around where you shouldn't have been nosing about!"

Godric stood up in reply. "Good thing I did! I don't believe you could do something like that!"

Rowena finally got a word in. "Do what? What are you two so excited about?"

Salazar shouted, "Just that Godric here feels it necessary to go poking around in other people's business!"

"Well, if I did, it's nothing compared to what you're planning. That's murder!"

At that, Helga and Rowena jumped up. "What is it?"

Godric tried to explain. "I saw Salazar sneaking around last night, so I followed him. He's got a whole chamber built that he never told us about, and there's a basilisk down there!"

Rowena gasped. "A basilisk? Salazar, why?"

There was no answer. Godric, surprised, looked around. While he had been talking, Salazar had disappeared.

"We'll have to go look for him. Helga, you start on the top floor and work your way down. Rowena, go to the dungeons and work up. I'll go search the grounds in case he's outside. Hurry!"

Rowena and Helga dashed off. Godric pulled out his wand as he ran down the stairs. He didn't want to hurt his friend, but Salazar had been acting so strangely lately that Godric knew their friendship was a thing of the past. Salazar had always been quiet and serious, rarely laughing at jokes and valuing his work over any entertainment. Recently, though, thought Godric, Salazar's been sneaking around, surprising us like he did to Rowena yesterday. Putting his office in the dungeon, far away from the rest of us, and then all that "pureblood" nonsense about not taking Muggle-born students. I should have known something like this would happen, but I never suspected.

Godric searched the grounds thoroughly, even asking the centaurs to look in the forest.

"He's not in the castle," Helga told Godric when he returned. "He knew better than to linger where we could find him."

Rowena nodded. "Well, he's gone. We don't have to worry about the chamber or the snake, as long as he's the only Parselmouth around here. No one else would go near it."

Helga agreed, but Godric was still worried. He left a chamber of secrets to any parseltongue to come after him. Perhaps no one will discover it. I certainly won't tell where it is. But if someone does open it, no one will be prepared to fight back.

The answer was so simple that Godric wondered why he hadn't thought of it before. If Salazar could build a secret room, then so could he.

Godric spent the next few weeks building a secret chamber of his own. He didn't tell Helga and Rowena exactly what he was doing, but they did know it was about Salazar's chamber and for the good of the school, so they left him alone to work. When it was done, Godric was satisfied that when the basilisk was released, whoever stepped forward to fight it would be sure of success.


	2. Return to Hogwarts

**The Chamber of Gryffindor**

**Part 2**

Harry paced around the room, feeling curious and more than a little impatient. He had been home with the Dursleys for less than a week before a letter from Dumbledore arrived, asking him to return to Hogwarts. Apparently Ron had received the same letter, because he and Mr. Weasley had come by the next day to bring Harry to Hogwarts. However, Dumbledore had been away when they arrived, and none of the other teachers would explain the mysterious summons.

Ron slouched in an armchair in the Gryffindor common room, where he and Harry had settled into their usual dormitory when they arrived the night before. He remained perfectly still, but his eyes followed Harry back and forth across the spacious room. He felt just as impatient, but showed it through his sullen silence rather than pacing.

Finally, Harry spoke. "Professor McGonagall told us Dumbledore would return after breakfast. It's almost noon! What could be taking so long?"

Ron shrugged. Harry threw himself into another armchair. Telling himself that anger wasn't going to help the situation, he tried another topic. "The common room is never this quiet during the school year. It's kind of spooky without any other people in here, isn't it?"

This time, Ron nodded. "I guess so. And the fire isn't lit, because it's summer. The house elves are probably partying in the kitchen, there's so little work to do with no students around." Ron paused, and began to grin. "Speaking of kitchens, I'm hungry. Do you think they'll mind if we wander around?"

Before Harry could answer, the portrait hole opened. Hermione climbed through, lugging a duffle bag. Harry and Ron were surprised, but delighted to see her. She smiled at them and said, "It's great to see you two again. I thought we'd have to wait all summer. Oh, and Professor Dumbledore is ready to talk with us as soon as I put my stuff away. He'll be waiting in his office, Professor McGonagall said."

Eager to be going, Harry and Ron helped her unpack in the girls' dorm room. Then they left the tower and walked quickly through the halls, ducking into a classroom once as Peeves floated past. When they reached Dumledore's office, Professor McGonagall was waiting for them outside.

They stopped and waited for her to open the door. Instead, she told them, "Professor Dumbledore has decided that, since you three will most likely be coming in here frequently, that you should know the password to get in. Until the school year begins, the word is 'snickerdoodle.'" The wall began to open, revealing the hidden staircase to the office. She stepped onto it, Harry, Hermione, and Ron behind her, and continued, "Please do not abuse this privilege. Unless you have an important reason, do not intrude on the headmaster. He is a busy man and should not be disturbed if any of the other teachers, like myself, can address the problem."

McGonagall walked into the office and announced the three students. Ron and Hermione stared around the room, amazed at its contents. Harry, who had been in Dumbledore's office several times before, looked at the headmaster himself. Dumbledore was sitting at his desk, which was cleared of everything except an old book and a large cardboard box.

"Thank you for bringing them, Minerva. You may go back to your own business now. We have some talking to do."

When Dumbledore was alone with the three students, he motioned to three chairs beside his desk and told them, "We may be here a while. Make yourselves comfortable."

Clearing his throat, he began to explain. "I suppose you are wondering why I have summoned you back, so soon after you left. The truth is, the other professors and I were about to go home for the summer, when we encountered a rather difficult situation that we were unprepared for. It seems another creature has moved into the chamber of secrets."

Harry was stunned. They couldn't expect him to go into the chamber again, could they? Was that why he was here? He took a deep breath and tried to calm down. Maybe he wouldn't be asked to go in. After all, none of the teachers spoke Parseltongue. They might just want him to open the chamber so some of the teachers could enter.

He glanced at his friends. Ron had a look of absolute horror on his face, remembering how close his sister had come to dying in the chamber. Hermione, who had been Petrified before they found the entrance, was only worried. 

"What does this have to do with us?" she asked. "The diary has been destroyed, and Harry's the only Parselmouth at the school, so why can't it just stay locked up in there?"

"If only it were that easy," Dumbledore said sadly, and opened the box on his desk. Harry leaned forward to see what was inside. One very large, dead spider fell out. Its body was nearly six inches across, and its legs made it look three times as big. Ron took one look and pushed his chair back as far as it would go.

"Professor Snape found this in his potions classroom. Others have been spotted all over the school. Filch killed one yesterday that was trying to attack his cat. They seem to grow quickly, have vicious tempers, and are extremely carnivorous."

"What makes you think they come from the chamber?" Harry asked. "I mean, I know there are a lot of giant spiders in the forest, but how did they get into the school?"

"As soon as we began finding these spiders, I remembered your story of meeting Aragog in the forest. Only he could be siring such large spiders. You had mentioned that he had been raised in the school, so it occurred to me that he may have wanted to find a way back in. But surely someone would have seen a giant spider enter the building." Harry nodded. Aragog would be hard to overlook. "However, there was one day when there was not even a single person in the castle. During the third trial of the Triwizard Tournament, everyone was at the Quidditch stadium. Aragog must have entered then, when the castle was completely empty."

"But that was weeks ago!" Hermione said. "Wouldn't someone have noticed these spiders before?"

"The school was filled with hundreds of students. Any empty classroom or disused corridor that held a giant spider would have been discovered in days. This leads me to believe that Aragog is in the chamber of secrets. Only there could he have remained hidden for so long."

For a moment there was silence. Harry didn't know what to do next. He could open the chamber, but he remembered that Aragog was as dangerous as the basilisk had been, and there would be other spiders with him. Harry could never win against them all.

Just as he began to despair, Dumbledore began to speak again. "The reason I have asked the three of you to help is because you are some of the bravest, and certainly the most resourceful, of all the Gryffindors. Harry is, of course, needed to open the chamber, but first the three of you have another mystery to solve. Judging by your performance over the last four years, I doubt you will have any trouble with it. This book is the diary of Godric Gryffindor; in it he mentions the chamber of secrets. Bring it back to your common room and read it. Take your time. You have the rest of the summer to work at this." Dumbledore handed the book to Hermione and scooped the spider back into the box. Harry stood up to leave, and his friends followed him out.


	3. The Spider in the Sink

Lunch had been delivered to the common room by the time they got back. Ron grabbed a sandwich off the tray and settled back into his armchair. Harry and Hermione took seats at the table, where they looked at the book Dumbledore had given them.

"If this really is Gryffindor's diary, it's over a thousand years old. We'd better wait to read it until we're done eating, so we don't get food on it."

Ron nearly choked on his sandwich. "Did Hermione just tell us not to read a book?" he coughed. "I would have expected her to make us skip lunch instead!"

Harry made a suggestion. "We could go check out the bathroom where the chamber is while we eat. Then when we come back we'll start reading."

It sounded like a good plan, so they picked up the sandwich tray and started out.

The bathroom hadn't changed much since Harry had last been in it. There were some new cracks in the tiles, and more rust on the hardware, but otherwise it looked the same. 

"Is Myrtle in here somewhere?" Hermione asked.

Ron made a face. "I hope not. That ghost gets on my nerves. But Harry doesn't mind her, do you Harry?"

Harry ignored Ron's banter as he examined the sinks. "I think I've found something. Come look."

Ron and Hermione leaned over the sink and stared at the faucet where Harry was pointing. At first, nothing seemed to be happening. Then, something on the faucet moved.

A tiny spider, barely the size of a little black speck, crawled out of the faucet. It dropped into the sink and began to climb out.

"So that's how they get out of the chamber," Harry whispered. "They crawl out when they're small, and then they grow too big to get back in."

Ron closed his eyes. "Thanks for the lesson, but can we get away from it now? You seem to be forgetting that these things _eat people_!"

"It's just a little spider, Ron, it can't eat us until it gets bigger," Hermione pointed out, but backed away to set him at ease. "Actually, I think it's kind of cute. In a spidery sort of way."

"A spidery way? You're scaring me, Hermione. Why don't we just go back to the common room and let you read your book, before you get any more attracted to the spider?"

Remembering the importance of the journal they had left behind, she agreed and led the way out of the bathroom.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harry, Ron and Hermione sat around the table as Hermione opened Gryffindor's journal. She began to read it, leaning over to peer at the small handwriting. After watching her for a few minutes, Harry and Ron began to get bored. They started talking together, quietly so they would not distract Hermione.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Harry?" Ron asked. "After all, you had a busy year with the Tournament and…everything else. Dumbledore would understand if you needed a break and told him no."

"Are you kidding? You think I want to turn down an adventure that has nothing to do with Voldemort? This is a new experience. Aragog doesn't want to kill me any more than he wants to kill you. I'm going to enjoy the variety."

"Wow," Hermione said, and they both looked at her. "I found the part Professor Dumbledore was talking about. Gryffindor _discovered_ the chamber of secrets. He and Slytherin had a huge argument over it."

"That might be why Slytherin left the school," Harry said. "Remember what Binns told us that year? They had a fight, but no one knew why."

Hermione stared at the book in surprise. "Harry, Ron, I think there are two chambers! Gryffindor is writing about one being built. Listen to this- 'A chamber of secrets and a chamber of answers, each in its rightful place by name.' That tells us where to find Gryffindor's chamber."

Harry and Ron couldn't figure it out. "You've lost us. Where is it then?"

"Think about it. The chamber of secrets is in a bathroom. Bathrooms are very secretive places, you can go into a bathroom and no one will come bother you. Gryffindor says that the chamber he built is in a place you go to for answers."

"I still don't get it," Ron said. "Where do you find answers?"

"Honestly! The chamber of Gryffindor is in the library!"

Okay, what do you think? Please write me some reviews!!!


	4. Library Adventures

"Hermione, did Gryffindor say anything about what this chamber is supposed to look like?" Ron asked.

Harry looked around. The library never seemed quite so big when it was full of students. Of course, when he needed to find something in here, he was usually looking for books, which were at least arranged by subject. Rows and rows of bookshelves stretched away in every direction, and the chamber could be down any of them.

"Just that it's in here somewhere. Gryffindor was afraid that someone might try to use his journal to open the chamber of secrets, so he said very little about how to find them."

"Well, we'll just have to start looking. Should we split up? It might be faster."

"We have to stay together," Harry said firmly. "If you find something and then have to come find everyone else, you might get lost and forget where it was. And we could run into some of those spiders. I know I wouldn't want to be alone and have one of them sneak up on me."

Ron shrugged. "Fine with me. You want to pick a bookcase?"

Hermione pointed to Madame Pince's desk and said, "Over there. The desk doesn't look old enough to be the entrance, so it should be easy to rule out. But we'll still need to check out the area around it."

Ron wandered over to the desk and began pulling out drawers. Harry and Hermione examined the walls as they discussed the journal.

"Are you sure it's in the library, Hermione? Maybe Gryffindor meant something else."

"I don't think so, Harry. Where else could it be? Of course it is possible that there was a different library back then, but I don't think it's likely. These bookcases have been here forever. Just look at them! They're built into the floor."

"So if the entrance is a moving bookcase, it also has to move the floor?"

"Unless it slides into the wall. Maybe we should be looking at the floor, too." Hermione dropped down to her hands and knees and crawled over the stone floor behind the desk. "No good. It's just normal stone like the floors in the rest of the castle."

Ron got up from the desk. "There's nothing over here. Let's go somewhere else."

They looked at the bookcases nearest them. "This is going to take a long time," Harry pointed out. "And what if it's in the restricted section? Should we ask one of the teachers to let us in?"

"I don't think they'll mind. It's not like we're going in there to read the books," Hermione said. "But you're right, it might take us days to find the chamber. We don't even know what it looks like! The only way this could get any worse is if Peeves shows up."

They suddenly heard laughter behind them. Ron froze and whispered, "Forget 'showing up', Hermione, I think he's been watching us all along!"

She whispered back, "What do we do now? If we scatter, do you think it will confuse him?"

The desk drawers shot open, and inkbottles began hurtling towards them. Then the chair began to rise into the air.

"Run!" Harry told them. He, Ron, and Hermione covered their heads and dashed down the aisle between the bookcases. All around them, books were flying off their shelves and dropping to the floor. One struck Ron and he stumbled, but kept running. 

"We can't keep running away from him!" Hermione panted. "Sooner or later we'll get stuck in a corner." She stopped and pulled out her wand.

The bookcase beside them began to shake. "Hermione, move!" Harry shouted, and he pushed her out of the way. The bookcase crashed into the floor where she had been standing.

As though he felt that they had been sufficiently terrified, Peeves threw one final volley of books at them and then swooped out of the library. 

"Are you all right?" Harry asked Hermione as he helped her up.

"Fine. Good thing you saw the bookcase move, though."

"Hey, Harry, Hemione, look at this!" Ron was standing near the wall where the bookcase had been. When Harry and Hermione walked over to him, they saw that when it had fallen, the bookcase had revealed a hole in the wall. There seemed to be a room behind it.

"You don't think this could be it, do you?" Hermione asked.

Harry shrugged. "Let's find out."

He squeezed through the gap in the wall, Ron and Hermione behind him. They were in a small room, just big enough for the three of them to move around without walking into each other. There were no windows or decorations of any kind besides a large statue built into the wall opposite the entrance. Hermione walked over to examine it.

"It's a griffin," she announced. "Half eagle and half lion. And it seems to be holding something, but I can't tell what it is."

"So this could really be Gryffindor's chamber," Harry said as he and Ron joined her at the statue. "Or at least part of it. Maybe the griffin's there to show the rest of the chamber is behind the wall."

"Yeah, but how do we get past it?" Ron asked. "Shouldn't there be some sort of password or key to get in?"

Hermione closed her eyes. "Key…I think I read something about a key. I can't remember quite how it went…"

Ron started saying possible passwords to the statue. "Gryffindor. Chamber of answers. Salazar Slytherin is a stinker. Open up, you stupid statue. Gosh, this isn't working."

Harry was puzzling over the object in the griffin's claws. It was long, straight, and hollow, and something about the way the griffin held it suggested it hadn't been carved from the same piece of stone as the rest of the statue.

"That's it!" Hermione startled Harry. "'I have hidden the key in my hat.' Gryffindor wrote that the key to the chamber is in his hat! Now we just have to find it. Oh, that won't be easy. How many hats do wizards own in a lifetime? It probably got thrown out long ago."

Harry remembered something from the beginning of the year. "Hermione, you were at the sorting this year, do you remember the sorting hat's song?"

"Yes, why? Oh!"

"Right! The sorting hat said it had belonged to Gryffindor! Now, what if we've already gotten the key, but didn't know it at the time?"

Hermione, Ron and Harry looked at the statue. The scabbard, they now realized it was holding, was just the right size for Gryffindor's sword.

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	5. Clicking in the Dark

It wasn't until the next morning that they went to Dumbledore's office. Harry and Ron had had a hard time convincing Hermione that they needed to get some sleep first, but she had eventually agreed, though they suspected she spent most of the night reading Gryffindor's journal again. They waited until after breakfast to go and find the sword.

Hermione practically ran to the office entrance. "Hurry up! Walk a little faster, you guys. We don't have all day!"

"Actually," Ron told her, "we do. What's the big rush? The sword will still be there five minutes from now."

"Aren't you curious about what's in the chamber?"

"Yeah, but the chamber isn't going anywhere either. Can you slow down? We just ate."

Hermione waited for Ron and Harry before she gave the password. Then they hurried up the stairs to Dumbledore's office.

"Hello? Professor Dumbledore?" Hermone called. There was no reply.

"Looks like he's gone out again," Harry said. "Let's get the sword, but don't disturb anything else. He's got some weird stuff in here."

"No kidding." Ron said. "Take a look at this! I wonder what it does?"

"Don't touch it, Ron!" Harry wasn't entirely sure what it was, but it looked like a yoyo that had long tentacles attached to the string. It crawled away from Ron's outstretched hand and dropped to the floor with a slight "squish."

"Gross!" Ron hurriedly withdrew his hand. 

"Look, here's the sword," Hermione said. "Let's get out of here before we mess anything up. I'm not even sure we should have come in here with the Professor gone."

There was just one problem with Hermione's suggestion.

Ron twisted the doorknob. "It's locked! What now?"

"Let me try." Hermione pulled out her wand and pointed it at the door. "Alohomora!"

Ron tried the knob, but it was still stuck. "I didn't really expect that to work on Dumbledore's door," Hermione said. "But it was worth a try."

Ron threw himself against the door. "Help me, Harry, maybe we can force it open." Harry and Hermione both pushed with him, but the door stayed shut.

Ron looked at the others. "Okay, I'm out of ideas. Any suggestions?"

Harry looked around the office and saw a window. "How high up are we? Maybe we can climb down."

They opened the window and looked outside. Several floors of sheer wall separated them from the ground.

"Okay, so maybe we can't climb down. What was this place designed for? Trapping burglars? There's no way out."

"We'll just have to wait or someone to come let us out," Hermione said. She sat down at the desk and started playing with one of Dumbledore's quills. Ron turned and kicked the wall in frustration.

"Ow! That was stupid. What did we go and let the door close on us for? We should have been watching it."

Suddenly, a grinding noise filled the air. Ron stepped back and stared at the spot he had just kicked. A portion of the wall swung out to reveal a passage behind it.

Hermione stood up. "A secret passage! It might lead out of here! That was brilliant, Ron!"

"It was? Oh, yeah, I knew it was there all a long." Ron blushed slightly at the undeserved praise.

Hermione used the lumos spell to light up the nearest part of the passage. It was incredibly dusty, with huge cobwebs dangling form the ceiling. It had obviously been unused for years.

"Bet Fred and George never found this one," Ron told Harry. "Where does it go, do you think?"

Harry shrugged. "No way to tell until we follow it out."

Hermione led the way into the darkness of the passage. They went down a short staircase, then turned right, turned left, went up some more steps, down a ramp, right, right, up another staircase, left…

Harry was the first to see the light ahead. "Look! We're at the end of the passage!" His voice echoed back in the silence of the passage. It was followed by an irritated clicking noise.

"Spider!" Ron yelled. He and Harry held out their wands, but they couldn't see it to cast any spells. The clicking grew louder, but all they could do was wait for it to come. It sounded like the spider was right by them, but they still couldn't see where it was. Frantic, they gripped their wands even tighter.

The spider dropped on them from the ceiling. 

Hermione was knocked to the floor. She dropped her wand and the light went out. Afraid of hitting her with his spell, Harry leapt at the spider. He smacked into it headfirst and it tumbled over.

Hermione scrambled out of the way. She ran her hands over the floor hurriedly, searching for her wand. Ron managed to light his own wand, and she picked up hers and pointed it at the spider.

"Harry, get away from it! I can't cast a spell!"

Hearing that she was ready, Harry stood up and jumped out of the spider's reach. He picked up his own wand and pointed it at the spider, casting a spell at the same time as Hermione.

"Stupify!" they both shouted. The spider curled up into a ball and rolled over. Out of breath from the struggle, Harry got a good look at the spider.

"It's huge," he gasped. 

Hermione nudged it with her foot. Curled up, the spider still looked nearly as big as she was. Moving, with its legs extended, it had been a nightmare come to life.

She shuddered. "Let's get out of here, _now_. I don't care where this passage opens out, I can't stay in here any longer."

They reached the end of the passage. Harry pushed open the wall, and they stepped out. Blinking in the bright light, they looked around.

"Oh, no!" Ron exclaimed. "We're in Dumbledore's office again!"

Harry looked around, defeated. Sure enough, they were back where they had started. The wall on the opposite side of the room was still hanging open where they had entered the passage.

Hermione walked over to the door. She looked as though she wanted to blast it down rather than wait in the office any longer. She raised her wand, but before Harry could stop her from blowing the door away, she began to laugh hysterically.

"I don't believe it! We're such idiots!"

"What is it now, Hermione?" Ron asked warily.

"We were trying to push the door open! But from this side, it pulls!" She turned the knob and pulled open the door.

Harry, Ron and Hermione looked at each other. They all laughed.

"Let's get out of here," Harry said. "But how about we don't tell anyone about this?"

Ron pushed the walls closed, Harry grabbed the sword, and they left, still laughing their heads off.

Thank you for reviewing, everyone who has bothered to! I might be updating a little more slowly, because I'm still writing the rest of the story, but I'll try to write quickly!


	6. Inside the Chamber

Someone had been to the library while they were gone and put all the books back on their shelves. Luckily, the bookcase that had been knocked over had not been moved back into place. Harry, Ron and Hermione entered the small chamber with the statue and stood looking at it, unsure what they should do next.

"Well, I guess we just put the sword into its scabbard," Harry said. "And then jump out of the way, in case it opens a trapdoor to the chamber right where you need to stand. Hermione, are you sure you've told us everything about the chamber that you know?"

"Of course I have," she replied. "Would I keep anything like that from you?"

"You forgot about the key until I mentioned it," Ron pointed out.

"Okay, so I forgot. If you had bothered to read the journal, you wouldn't have to trust me when I say that's everything I know."

"If you had put the journal down long enough for someone to start reading it, maybe I would have."

Harry ignored the bickering behind him as he slid Gryffindor's sword into the statue's sheath. He stepped back and waited for something to happen.

Hermione and Ron grew quiet as they saw Harry had made his move. They looked around, but nothing had changed.

Then the griffin statue began to move. It blinked its eyes for a moment. Then it seemed to bow slightly, though it might have just been stretching, and shuffled to the right, revealing a door in the wall. Harry walked up and pushed it open. He entered the chamber, followed by Ron and Hermione, who were followed by the statue. 

Harry found himself in a small circular room, hung with tapestries depicting lions in the Gryffindor colors. At one end was a fireplace, with a brightly burning fire lighting up the room. In the middle of the room was a table with another book on it. 

Harry turned to see what his friends were making of it. Ron was waving his hand slowly through the air, staring as red and gold sparks showered down where he moved. Hermione was already providing an explanation.

"Strong concentration of magic. The energy you create by moving against it discharges as the sparks. I've never seen quite so many, the magical concentration in here is quite strong."

"It must be, to keep the fire burning so long." Harry started to turn back to the chamber, but something odd caught his eye. The statue that had followed them into the chamber had continued to change. Before, it had just looked like a moving statue. Harry had seen enough animated objects around Hogwarts to not find anything strange about it. But now its movement had begun to smooth out, becoming less jerky and stiff, and it was slowly changing color.

Ron noticed Harry staring at it and turned around. His eyes widened. "Harry, you don't suppose it's coming to life, do you?"

Hermione also turned and looked. Almost all of the stony greyness had been replaced with a soft golden brown color. 

"I think it is, Ron," Harry said. 

He walked over to the griffin, which bowed again. This time there was no mistaking the purpose of its movement. Remembering the lessons he had had with Hagrid's hippogriffs, Harry bowed back. The griffin let him reach up slightly and stroke its beak. It felt completely real.

Ron walked over and began petting the griffin, and Harry turned to the book on the table. It was a thick, heavy book with a red cover. There was no title indicated anywhere. He opened it to the first page and began to read.

_Hello, Harry Potter_, it said. Harry looked up and then at the first line again. He thought he had seen the book printing his name in the space out of the corner of his eye, but every time he looked directly at it his name was firmly in place. He gave up on spotting it and continued reading.

_My name is Godric Gryffindor. I am one of the four founders of Hogwarts. By your reading this, I know that you have found and opened my secret chamber. Well done. You already have my sword; now that you are here I am able to give you what you no doubt are in need of. Answers. I built this chamber for the protection of the school. Salazar Slytherin, another of the founders, has built a chamber in one of the bathrooms where he is raising a basilisk serpent. You will find everything you need to defeat it in this room._

But I already killed the basilisk, Harry thought. This sure would have been handy two years ago, but what good is it now?

_This book you hold is a collection of all of the spells I know, along with several that I have created myself that no others know about. Some of them may be useful to you. I leave it up to you to decide which ones to learn and use. In addition, I have left my pet griffin here to aid you. A person sitting on its back is impervious to all forms of magic. Be warned, as you cannot be harmed by spells while riding it, neither can you cast spells. Its name is Galahad. Good luck, and may the forces of good prevail._

Harry watched as the griffin nuzzled Hermione while she rubbed its head. "Come on," he told them. "We've got some spiders to kill, and we need to make a plan."

Almost done! Thanks to everyone who likes it. And don't expect any updates next week; I'm going on a vacation. But I will work on writing it! In the meantime, you could always write more reviews.


	7. Breath Before the Plunge

Harry, Hermione, and Ron spent the rest of the day learning spells from Gryffindor's book. It was immediately obvious that not all of them would be useful; Godric Gryffindor had created a charm that kept dogs from barking at strangers, but it was highly unlikely they would need to use it. There were hexes that Harry would have loved to use on Malfoy, but he didn't have time to lean them. After we settle the spiders, he promised himself. Then I'll learn the nail-his-foot-to-the-floor spell. 

Ron was also picking out spells for Malfoy. "Harry, look at this one, it'll give him a mad compulsion to change his hair to a different wacky style every day. Can you imagine Malfoy showing up at breakfast with a blue Mohawk? And this one- make him think he's a jelly donut!"

"Will you cut that out and do some work for once?" Hermione had been in a bad mood ever since the griffin discovered how to pull her hair. The first time it had snuck up behind her, she screamed and tried to curse it while Harry and Ron laughed. Of course, thinking it was funny the griffin kept repeating the stunt.

Hermione glared at the corner where Galahad sat playing with a chair cushion. She patted her hair almost absentmindedly and returned to her spellwork. "We already know the stunning and impediment charms. Here's a couple that are spider-specific: web-cutting, fang-severing, this one looks interesting, it confuses the images sent to the spider's brain from each eye, separately so that it can't see which direction you're coming from. But it's a bit difficult, so it's probably best used before the spider knows you're there."

Galahad pranced over, abandoning the pile of stuffing and shredded fabric that had once been the cushion. Harry reached up to stroke its wing, and then said, "You must be really glad not to be a statue anymore, Galahad. I wonder what it's like to live for a thousand years."

"Forget the griffin!" Hermione snapped. "Concentrate on the spells!" Galahad reached over and nipped at her hair again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later they each practiced riding on Galahad. It was not very different from riding hippogriffs, so they learned quickly. 

Hermione insisted that they get a good night's sleep, so Harry and Ron went up to their dorm early.

Just as he was falling asleep, Harry noticed that Galahad had snuck up the stairs after them and was lying curled up on Neville's bed.

"Know what, Ron?" he said sleepily. "I reckon Gryffindor was a practical joker once, bit like Fred and George. All those spells, and the way his griffin likes to pull hair…"

Ron snored, fast asleep.

Well, I've spun my web and trapped myself. So many new spells without names. So let's have a little audience participation session. If anyone has an idea for the actual incantation to any of the new spells mentioned in this chapter (or another useful spell that you think up yourself), please stick it in your review. Any spells that are not named by the time I write the next (and final) chapter will not be used.


	8. Spiders!

It was raining heavily when Harry woke up.

Just great, he thought. The tunnels to the chamber are going to be even damper than usual. He looked over at the other beds and noticed that both Ron and Galahad had already left.

Ron opened the door into the room. "Oh, Harry, you're awake! I went down to the kitchen and got us breakfast. Hermione's waiting in the common room, she wants to go over the plan again."

Harry got dressed and followed Ron downstairs. Hermione was sitting on the couch, tapping her wand distractedly on the table and obviously deep in thought. Harry took a piece of toast off the tray on the table, trying not to disturb her. Ron sat down too and began peeling an orange.

"I guess she already ate," he said, noting her disregard for the food in front of her. "I haven't, though. I'm starved."

Hermione finally looked around. "Good morning," she said. "Did you both sleep well?"

"Yeah, except Galahad started rolling around during the middle of the night," Harry told her. "Woke us both up when he fell onto the floor. You?"

"Fine. Are we still going to fight the spiders today?"

"What other choice do we have?" Ron asked, his mouth full. He swallowed and continued, "I mean, we've got the sword, the griffin, and the spells. Why wait?"

"Well, last night I suggested we tell Professor Dumbledore what we've accomplished so far-"

"Including getting ourselves stuck in his office? Come on Hermione, he'll think we're idiots if we tell him."

"I wasn't going to tell him that! I just think that we ought to tell him what we're going to do! Besides, he never told us we were supposed to fight the spiders at all! If you remember our conversation, he only asked us to figure out Gryffindor's journal. And we've done that!"

"Ron has a point, Hermione," Harry told her. "Who do you think Dumbledore wants to fight the spiders? If he was going to send the other professors, why didn't he give _them_ the journal?"

Hermione shrugged. Ron spoke up to support Harry's argument. "And anyway, Hermione, Gryffindor wanted us to do it. You read the note in his spellbook too. He left Harry the sword, not any of the professors, and we have his griffin now. Do you really think Galahad would leave us to go help someone else? _He_ thinks we're the ones to do it."

"All right, then we'll take on the spiders ourselves. Now, I don't know if either of you have a plan, but I've been doing some thinking about how we're going to do this."

"Can you tell us while we walk?" Harry said. "We could start for the bathroom now."

They picked up their wands and walked out with Galahad.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harry stood nervously in the entrance to the chamber of secrets with Galahad. So far they hadn't encountered a single spider in the tunnels. Harry had a feeling that they were all waiting in the main chamber to deal with the trespassers in force.

Hermione and Ron had split off to either side. The plan depended on taking the spiders by surprise from all three directions. Harry, on Galahad, would sweep in from the doorway and keep the spiders from escaping, while Hermione and Ron would pick them off with spells from both sides at once, hopefully confusing the spiders enough that they would not put up much fight.

Harry turned and mounted Galahad. A pale golden glow appeared around the griffin and its rider, not obstructing Harry's vision but telling him how far the anti-magic shield extended. As long as he stayed inside the shield, he could not be harmed by any form of magic, including, they hoped, the spiders' venom. Harry was carrying his wand in case he became separated from Galahad, but he also had the sword to use while he rode the griffin.

To his right, Harry saw a quick green sparkle. Ron was in position and could not see any spiders. Harry waited to see Hermione's sparks. It was another minute before she sparked green. But her green sparks were just beginning to fade when she sent out red ones. A spider was coming. Harry tightened his grip on the sword. _It was your help that got us into this, Godric,_ he thought desperately. _We could sure use your help getting out._

A group of seven spiders came around the corner. The one in front saw Harry and clicked to its companions. They stopped and began to back away. 

"NOW!" Harry shouted and drove Galahad forward. The spiders scattered as jets of light flashed in from the sides. Two were hit immediately with stunners; a third fell as Harry swung his sword into the fray. Ron and Hermione were able to continue casting spells without fear of hitting Harry. One more spider was stunned. Harry stabbed the fifth as Galahad ripped his claws into another. The last one backed up until it was out of view of Hermione and Ron. Galahad stepped towards it, Harry holding the sword ready to swing, and the spider ran.

"Don't let it get away!" Harry yelled. Galahad sprang after it, but too late. The spider ducked into the shadows by the wall and disappeared from sight.

Harry groaned. Of course it would warn the other spiders, and their advantage of surprise would be gone. But wait…the spider was coming back. And not alone. A much larger spider was following it.

Before Harry could react, Ron shouted "Stupify!" from the other side of the room and the smaller spider collapsed. The larger one walked up and nudged the other with a foot. Then it turned to face Harry.

"Got him!" it said. Harry felt his jaw drop. "Oh Harry, stop being silly, it's me!" Hermione? Harry blinked rapidly. If he tried hard enough, he _could _see Hermione instead of the spider, but only now that he knew she was there.

"Arachniomorphing spell. I know we haven't done human transfiguration yet, but there was a really simple one in Gryffindor's book. And it works! That spider thought I was another spider!"

"That's just great, Hermione," Harry said. Ron came over and went through the same blinking process that Harry had done. "What now? Do we wait for another group to come by?"

"No. We go find Aragog and put an end to this."

I haven't updated this in forever! I'm sorry! I thought this was going to be the last chapter, but I just can't cram everything in, so there'll be at least one more after this. 

Arwen Undomiel thought of the arachniomorphing spell. The other spells will be in the next chapter, I haven't forgotten them!


	9. Aragog

There were parts in the chamber that Harry had never seen. It was bigger then he had realized, and also seemed emptied of spiders.

"The noise from the battle probably scared the smaller spiders away," Hermione's spider-form explained. "That's all right, the little ones should still be susceptible to insecticides. Between Filch and Hagrid, someone ought to have spider poison."

"Or Snape could brew one up," Harry suggested. "I may not like him, but I can admit he's good with potions."

"Exactly. But we need to kill Aragog. Otherwise there will continue to be spiders in the school, and Hogwarts will continue to be unsafe."

Harry nodded. He agreed with what Hermione had said, but there was still the problem of _finding_ Aragog. They had been looking for nearly an hour without finding any other entrances to the chamber.

"Where can he be?" Ron asked. "Aragog's not _in_ the chamber, he wasn't in the passage leading _to_ the chamber, and there aren't any ways _out_ of the chamber."

"I think there is one," Hermione said. "Harry, when you were down here before, the basilisk wasn't waiting in the chamber for you. You said Tom Riddle called it from somewhere."

"Yes, he did. The basilisk came out of the statue." Harry pointed to the statue of Slytherin at the far end of the chamber. "Do you think that's where Aragog is?"

"Like Ron said, where else can he be? Can you open it?"

"I think so." Harry walked a bit closer to the statue. What was it Riddle had said? _Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts four_. But Harry wasn't about to address Slytherin like that. Then again, how had Riddle known to say that? He probably hadn't. Maybe anything in Parseltongue would work. 

Harry hissed at the statue. Its mouth began to open, just as before.

"Great, Harry!" Hermione said. "What did you say to it?"

"Well, I took a leaf out of Ron's book," Harry said. Suddenly he grinned. "'Salazar Slytherin is a stinker' has such a ring to it, I figured it had to work for something."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Inside the statue's mouth was a dark tunnel, slanting steeply upwards. Hermione went first, since she could carry a wand with one leg and still have seven for climbing. Harry and Ron followed her, with Galahad struggling behind. The griffin was having trouble climbing the smooth rock tunnel, but he seemed determined not to be left behind.

Suddenly Hermione stopped. The floor's leveling out," she whispered. "I think we're almost there."

"Does anyone have any last minute changes to the plan?" Harry asked. "This could be our last chance."

No one answered. Finally, Ron said, "Well, I guess that's that. Good luck, everyone."

"You too. Now, let's go carefully."

They crept up the last few feet of tunnel. The room they peered into was lit slightly by holes in the roof, probably eroded by water dripping down into the cavern. Rain was falling through now. Massive cobwebs hung from the walls. In the exact center, Aragog was dozing in a heap of legs.

Harry looked around quickly, but he didn't see any other spiders. _Just as well_, he thought. _Aragog will be trouble enough_.

"Remember," he whispered, "Aragog's big enough that normal spells won't hurt him. We have to hit him a _lot_ before he'll feel anything."

"So just keep throwing spells at him, and use the spider-specific ones as much as possible because they'll be more powerful against him," Hermione added. "Are you ready?"

Ron held up his wand. Harry mounted Galahad and nodded to her. The griffin bowed.

Hermione pointed her wand at Aragog. She needed to hit him in the face to use the vision-inhibiting spell from Gryffindor's book, but Aragog had his back toward the tunnel. "Hey you!" she shouted. The spider spun around, evidently quite surprised. "Oculus Deceptus!"

The blast from her wand hit Aragog right in the face. It rocked back a step, then charged toward the entrance where they stood. But Harry and Ron had scattered when Hermione cast the spell, and now Hermione scuttled in between Aragog's legs and to the back of the cavern.

Carefully avoiding the cobwebs, Harry and Galahad worked around to a position where they could charge Aragog. The spider was confused, and all but blinded by the spell Hermione had cast, but it could still hear them moving and had lightning reflexes.

Ron and Hermione were busily throwing any spells they could think of. Rainbows of sparks cascaded onto the floor around Aragog. Their main goal was to hit him enough that his resistance would weaken until one really good spell would finish him off. 

Galahad leapt forward as Aragog turned toward Harry. Harry swung the sword, nearly cutting through one of Aragog's fangs, and ducked as the spider swiped a leg at him. Then he was out of reach again, waiting for another chance to strike. 

Frustrated, Aragog turned back to face Hermione, who was casting spells as she ran back and forth along one wall. Seeing where Harry had cut the fang, she aimed her wand and shouted "Severus!" The fang detached completely. Aragog roared as it fell, and stomped on the ground as Hermione went past. Suddenly, Hermione found herself backed into a corner with a furious spider advancing on her.

"Hermione!" Harry panicked and drove Galahad forward. Aragog's back leg kicked out, and Harry went flying off Galahad's back. The griffin tumbled into another leg and was thrown in a different direction.

Harry landed in one of the webs. He struggled to free himself, but only became more entangled.

_Where's the sword?_ he thought frantically. _I'll cut myself out!_ But it was lying on the floor behind Aragog. He'd never be able to reach it.

"Ron!" Harry shouted. "Help me!" Ron turned and saw Harry stuck in the web. So did Aragog. It left Hermione and began to stalk toward Harry, helplessly caught and immobilized.

Ron dashed over to Galahad and swung himself up. He rode straight across the room, directly under Aragog. Galahad bent down and snapped up the sword in his beak as they passed it.

"Distract it, Hermione!" Ron yelled. He jumped down off Galahad and pointed his wand at the web. "Scalpare Aranea!" The strands holding Harry's arm fell apart. Harry grabbed the sword from Galahad and began hacking at the web wherever he could reach. Ron continued helping with the spell.

"Ron, Harry, look out!" Hermione called. Aragog was ignoring her spells and was nearly on top of Ron and Harry. Ron stopped cutting the web and turned around to try and drive off the spider. 

"Hit it in the eyes, Ron!" Hermione told him. Harry finished cutting himself free and pulled out his wand.

Hermione joined them, and the three of them stood before the giant spider.

"I think we've hit it enough," she said. "One more good spell should do. Together, on the count of three. One…two…three!"

"Arania Exumai!" she shouted, and Harry and Ron shouted with her. The triple blast hit Aragog in the middle eye, and the spider slowly toppled over. It hit the ground with a thud that shook the room, and then twitched for a moment before lying still.

They still had a lot of explaining to do, to Dumbledore and the other teachers, Harry realized. But as far as he was concerned, the adventure was finally at an end.

I'm sorry this took so long, I just…well, I don't have a good excuse. I'm a horrible procrastinator, so go ahead and get mad at me for never updating.

As for the spells: buttered-onions named the fang-severing spell (Severus), coolone007 named the web-cutting spell (Scalpare Aranea), and coolone007 and Malfoy's concubine provided the really useful links to Latin websites. The "Arania Exumai" spell is from the Chamber of Secrets movie.

The Farting Menace's hairstyle curse (Barberius) and Malfoy's concubine's jelly donut curse (Berliner) were, alas, not used in this story. But maybe I'll try to work them into another story, because they were really good ideas.

Expect Part Three soon!


	10. Godric's Journal

The Chamber of Gryffindor 

Part Three

Godric's Journal 

Things have been in disarray since Salazar left. Rowena, never the one to think badly of anyone, is in shock that he could betray us. Helga cries in her office and will not come out. I feel as if I am walking in a dream. Everything is unreal; nothing is as it should be. There is a hole in my heart where my friend should be. He is gone, but I cannot stop searching for him. I turn around, expecting to see him, but he is never there.

I mourn the loss of a friend who is not dead. Such sorrow should not be. Come back to us, Salazar. We cannot be whole without you.

I have begun constructing my own chamber. We held a meeting to discuss what should be done about Salazar's chamber, but Helga and Rowena were unable to find a solution. I have thus taken the matter into my own hands. When the chamber is opened, as I fear it will be, one person at the least must stand against its evil. I must give this hero as much help as I can.

Work on the chamber progresses rapidly. I expect to finish before the students return. I have spent long hours thinking on what to put into the chamber. I have decided that as Salazar's heir will inherit his symbol, so shall my heir inherit mine. This fight does not end with our deaths, Salazar. Unto each future generation, we pass a trust of hatred greater than all magic can ever be. It is a sorrowful thought that two men should have the power to so influence the world, robbing it of ever achieving its dreams of peace.

Rowena and Helga have both decided they need to leave the school for some time. They plan to wander the country, searching for old friends and lost relationships that can be renewed. I hope they find their joy. I know I will take no more happiness from life, without my dearest friend with me. I remain here only to complete our dream of creating a school for magic, and I only hope that its students find less sorrow here than I. This was the dream that the four of us shared- now only I am left. Where did we go wrong?

The chamber is complete. I have hidden the key in my hat; only the person who opposes the chamber's evil will be able to draw it out. Now there are two chambers in our school. A chamber of secrets, and a chamber of answers, and each is in its rightful place by name. But I will say no more, for I cannot know who will someday read this, nor which chamber they shall seek.

I say a fond farewell to my students, our school, and our memories; I am leaving this place to travel with Rowena and Helga. If only Salazar were with us, it would feel like the days when we were young and carefree, before we began to dream a dream of unity between all magic, which I now fear will never come to pass. Someday, perhaps, I will wake up and find that our dream was only part of a nightmare, and I will be free. Until then, this school will be divided as we were, so that some will remember our shame and live better lives than we could. 

There can be no future without a past to shape it and a present to live it. We who are the past must suffer for the future to be brighter. And in the end, we will be praised for our mistakes.


End file.
